There’s a huge gap between the number of electric cars you see at an auto show and how many cars the dealer will offer you,” said Gil Tal, director of the Plug-in Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis. “It’s kind of hard to ask the market for huge demand when there is no supply. You need to stock the shelves first.”

“The pressure is mounting,” says Yunshi Wang, director of the China Center for Energy and Transportation at the University of California at Davis. “This could be a model for other countries; it could be a game changer globally.”

“California is well positioned to become a transportation model for the world, but it will need strong leadership and resolve to achieve its potential.”–Daniel Sperling, professor and director of ITS-Davis and member of CARB.

“One-day delivery is often free, but it comes at a high cost for the environment,” said Miguel Jaller, an assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of California, Davis. That’s because delivery companies need to make more trips when customers choose expedited shipping.

“The main issue [is] that most of the Californians are not aware of the benefit and opportunity of buying plug-in electric cars,” says Gil Tal, who directs the Plug-In Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center at UC Davis . “If you buy an electric car today and you drive it for 10 years in California, your car will be cleaner every year.”

Dan Sperling, director of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California-Davis, said shared mobility revolution could be the solution to current traffic problems and vehicle dependency. “The major responsibility for sustainable transportation and cities will be at the local level,” Sperling said.

“First, battery technology has continued to improve in reliability even as it has gotten much cheaper. Second, strong policies have been enacted to protect consumers. If you’re interested in buying an EV and experiencing some of [its] benefits firsthand, battery reliability is not a reason to wait.”–Co-authors Dr. Austin Brown of the UC Davis Policy Institute and Professor Dan Sperling of the Department of Engineering and Environmental Science.

“The EV market is irreversible,” said Gil Tal, research director at the Plug-in Hybrid & Electric Vehicle Research Center with the University of California, Davis. “It’s not going to disappear. The growth can slow or be faster, but it will keep going.”